Kimberly García
Gabriela Kimberly García León(born 19 October 1993)[2]is a femaleracewalkerfromPeru.She won gold medals in the20 kilometres walkand35 km walkat the2022 World Athletics Championships,becoming the first ever Peruvian world medallist and the firstLatin Americanto earn two titles at the sameWorld Athletics Championships.[3][4]García is theSouth American recordholder for the longer event.
She represented Peru in the women's 20 kilometres walk at the2016 Rioand2020 Tokyo Olympics.[2]She also holds threePeruvian national records(10,000 m walk,10 km walkand 20 km walk).
Early life
[edit]Kimberly García comes from theInca nationand was born inHuancayoin central Peru. Her family has always been linked torace walking,so she started training when she was 5 years old, following in the footsteps of her cousin.[5]
Career
[edit]As a 12-year-old García won the 5 kilometres race walk at the Peruvian Race Walking Under-18 Championships and Peruvian U18 Championships. Three years later, in 2009, she took victory in the10 km walkU20 event of the Peruvian Race Walking Championships. She was seventh at the2010 Youth Olympic Gamesheld inSingapore(5000 m walk).[2]
At 19, she claimed the gold medal in the20 km walkat the2013 Pan American Race Walking Cup.García won also the event at the2014 South American Race Walking Championships.In May that year, she set her first South American record (20 km) inTaicang,China.[6]Garcíaplaced 14thin the event at the2016 Rio Olympics.[2]After the Games, she considered retiring from professional athletics due to the lack of support from private companies.[5]
In 2017, she achieved the highest position of Peruvian athlete in aWorld Athletics Championships,finishing seventh in the 20 km walk at theChampionshipsin London.[7]
In 2019, García won the silver medal in the event at thePan American Gamesstaged inLima.[2]In December that year, she was named Athlete of the Year by thePeruvian Athletics Sport Federation.[5]
She qualified for the event but failed to finish the20 km walkat the postponed2020 Tokyo Olympics.[2]
2022: Double world champion in Oregon
[edit]In March, the 28-year-old finished third in the 20 km walk at theWorld Race Walking Team Championshipsheld inMuscat,Oman. In April, she broke the South American record in the 35 km walk with a time of 2:43:19 for second at theDudinská Päťdesiatkameeting inDudince,Slovakia.[8]
At theWorld Athletics Championshipsheld inEugene, Oregonin July, García first won20 km walkin a national record, becoming the first ever medallist from Peru inchampionships historyand ending longer than 10 years Chinese dominance in the event.[9][10]Seven days later, she added second title for the35 km walk,improving her own South American record and becoming the first woman to earn two racewalking titles at one global championships. García also became the firstLatin Americanto win two gold medals at the same World Athletics Championships.[11]In November, she was shortlisted for the World AthleticsFemale Athlete of the Yearaward.[4]
2023–present: 35 km walk world record
[edit]Kimberly got her 2023 campaign off to a strong start on 25 March, setting a 35 km walk world record with a time of 2:37:44 at the Dudinska 50. She made clear that 2022 was no flash in the pan and sliced two seconds off the previous fastest mark for the distance.[12]It was the first world record in the event after it became a standard championship discipline in 2022 and 2:38:00 was set as the standard.[13] In August, Kimberly won the silver medal in the 35 km athletic walk at the World Championships in Budapest.[14]
Achievements
[edit]Personal bests
[edit]- 10,000 metres race walk– 42:56.97 (Trujillo] 2018)NR
- 10 kilometres race walk– 43:23 (Suzhou] 2017)NR
- 20 kilometres race walk– 1:26:58 (Eugene, OR2022)NR
- 35 kilometres race walk– 2:37:44 (Dudince2023)South American record
International competitions
[edit]Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Result | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | World Youth Championships | Brixen,Italy | – | 5000 m walk | DQ | |
2010 | South American U18 Race Walking Championships | Cochabamba,Bolivia | 1st | 5 km walk | 24:24 | |
World Race Walking Cup, U20 events | Chihuahua City,Mexico | 22nd | 10 km walk | 54:02 | ||
Youth Olympic Games | Bishan,Singapore | 7th | 5000 m walk | 23:17.04 | PB | |
South American Youth Championships | Santiago,Chile | 2nd | 5000 m walk | 23:25.76 | ||
2011 | Pan American Race Walking Cup, U20 events | Barcelona,Spain | 2nd | 10 km walk | 49:13 | |
South American U20 Championships in Athletics | Medellín,Colombia | – | 10,000 m walk | DQ | ||
2012 | South American Race Walking Championships, U20 events | Salinas,Ecuador | 4th | 10 km walk | 47:57 | |
World Race Walking Cup, U20 events | Saransk,Russia | 11th | 10 km walk | 47:56 | SB | |
World Junior Championships | Barcelona,Spain | 10th | 10,000 m walk | 47:42.49 | SB | |
2013 | Pan American Race Walking Cup | Guatemala City,Guatemala | 1st | 20 km walk | 1:35:01 | |
South American Race Walking Championships | Cartagena,Colombia | – | 20,000 m walk | DQ | ||
World Championships | Beijing,China | 31st | 20 km walk | 1:33:57 | NR | |
Bolivarian Games | Trujillo,Peru | 3rd | 20 km walk | 1:34:29 | ||
2014 | South American Race Walking Championships | Cochabamba,Bolivia | 1st | 20 km walk | 1:35:34 | |
World Race Walking Cup | Taicang,China | 24th | 20 km walk | 1:29:44 | AR | |
Ibero-American Championships | São Paulo,Brazil | 3rd | 10,000 m walk | 43:57.44 | ||
2015 | Pan American Race Walking Cup | Arica,Chile | 2nd | 20 km walk | 1:31:13 | |
South American Race Walking Championships | Lima,Peru | – | 20,000 m walk | DQ | ||
Pan American Games | Toronto,Canada | 5th | 20 km walk | 1:32:45 | ||
World Championships | Beijing,China | – | 20 km walk | DNF | ||
2016 | South American Race Walking Championships | Guayaquil,Ecuador | 8th | 20 km walk | 1:38:21 | |
World Race Walking Team Championships | Rome,Italy | 12th | 20 km walk | 1:29:38 | NR | |
Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro,Brazil | 14th | 20 km walk | 1:32:09 | ||
2017 | Pan American Race Walking Cup | Lima,Peru | 2nd | 20 km walk | 1:29:15 | |
World Championships | London,United Kingdom | 7th | 20 km walk | 1:29:13 | NR | |
Bolivarian Games | Santa Marta, Colombia | 2nd | 20 km walk | 1:33:07 | ||
2018 | South American Race Walking Championships | Sucúa,Ecuador | 3rd | 20 km walk | 1:32:48 | |
World Race Walking Team Championships | Taicang,China | 8th | 20 km walk | 1:28:56 | ||
South American Games | Cochabamba,Bolivia | 1st | 20 km walk | 1:33:11 | GR | |
Ibero-American Championships | Trujillo,Peru | 2nd | 10,000 m walk | 42:56.97 | NR | |
2019 | Pan American Games | Lima,Peru | 2nd | 20 km walk | 1:29:00 | SB |
2021 | Olympic Games | Sapporo,Japan | – | 20 km walk | DNF | |
2022 | South American Race Walking Championships | Lima,Peru | 2nd | 20 km walk | 1:32:00 | |
World Race Walking Team Championships | Muscat,Oman | 3rd | 20 km walk | 1:32:27 | ||
Ibero-American Championships | La Nucia,Spain | 2nd | 10,000 m walk | 43:41.50 | ||
World Championships | Eugene, OR,United States | 1st | 20 km walk | 1:26:58 | NR | |
1st | 35 km walk | 2:39:16 | CRAR | |||
2023 | World Championships | Budapest,Hungary | 4th | 20 km walk | 1:27:32 | |
2nd | 35 km walk | 2:40:52 | ||||
Pan American Games | Santiago,Chile | 1st | 20 km walk | |||
2024 | Olympic Games | Paris,France | 16th | 20 km walk | 1:30:10 | |
4th | Marathon walk relay | 2:51:56 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"2018 South American Games results"(PDF).Archived from the original on 6 June 2018.Retrieved14 June2018.
{{cite web}}
:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^abcdef"Kimberly GARCÍA LEÓN – Athlete Profile".World Athletics.Retrieved15 July2022.
- ^"22 standout moments from a memorable '22 track and field season".World Athletics.21 September 2022.Retrieved26 September2022.
- ^ab"Spotlight on finalists: Kimberly Garcia and Jakob Ingebrigtsen".World Athletics.18 November 2022.Retrieved18 November2022.
- ^abc"Atleta peruana Gabriela Kimberly García León" Kimy ", se adjudica la medalla de oro en el Campeonato Mundial de Atletismo, en Oregón EE.UU".prensaperu.pe(in Spanish). Peruvian News Agency. 18 July 2022.Retrieved22 July2022.
- ^"20 Kilometres Race Walk Results".IAAF.3 May 2014.Retrieved3 May2014.
- ^Martín, Marta (23 July 2022)."Kimberly García: ¿quién es la doble campeona del mundo en el Mundial de Atletismo 2022?".Olympics.com(in Spanish).IOC.Retrieved23 July2022.
- ^"Qieyang and Stano win 35km race walk debuts in Dudince".World Athletics. 23 April 2022.Retrieved23 April2022.
- ^"'Fighter' Kimberly Garcia Leon dominates 20km race walk for Peru's first ever world gold ".The Times of India.16 July 2022.Retrieved22 July2022.
- ^Mulkeen, Jon (16 July 2022)."Garcia ends Chinese dominance of 20km race walk with landmark Oregon triumph".World Athletics.Retrieved22 July2022.
- ^Rowbottom, Mike (22 July 2022)."Peru's Garcia Leon completes world race walk double as she wins new 35km event".Inside the Games.Retrieved22 July2022.
- ^"Garcia breaks 35km race walk world record in Dudince".World Athletics.25 March 2023.Retrieved25 March2023.
- ^"Perez and Lopez win 35km race walk titles in Lepe".World Athletics.31 January 2022.Retrieved31 January2022.
- ^"Kimberly García won the silver medal in the 35 km athletic walk at the Budapest 2023 World Athletics Championships".euro.eseuro.com.
External links
[edit]- 1993 births
- Living people
- Peruvian female racewalkers
- Peruvian female athletes
- World Athletics Championships athletes for Peru
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 Pan American Games
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes for Peru
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 South American Games
- South American Games gold medalists for Peru
- South American Games medalists in athletics
- Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Pan American Games gold medalists for Peru
- Pan American Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Pan American Games silver medalists for Peru
- Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games
- South American Games gold medalists in athletics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- 21st-century Peruvian women
- People from Huancayo
- World Athletics Championships winners
- World record setters in athletics (track and field)
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics